Internal combustion engine (ICE) is known in the art. Typical ICE is an engine in which the burning of fuel occurs in a confined space called a combustion chamber. This exothermic reaction of fuel with an oxidizer creates gases of high temperature and pressure, which are permitted to expand. The defining feature of an internal combustion engine is that useful work is performed by the expanding hot gases acting directly to cause movement, for example by acting on pistons, rotors, or even by pressing on and moving the entire engine itself. This contrasts with external combustion engines, such as steam engines, which use the combustion process to heat a separate working fluid, typically water or steam, which then in turn does work, for example by pressing on a steam actuated piston.
While such ICE provides torque and power, it does not operate very efficiently. Pistons, contained and movable in the ICE housing, cause frictional losses to occur, which undesirably reduce the amount of power or torque, which is provided by the ICE thereby increasing the overall consumption of fuel by the ICE. Frictional mode of the ICE tends to increase at a rate greater than the square of engine operation speed, such that friction losses increase by more than fourfold with a doubling of engine speed.
The ICE are mostly used in passenger automobiles, outboard engines for motor boats, small units for lawn mowers, and other such equipment, as well as diesel engines used in trucks, tractors, earth-moving, and similar equipment. Characteristic features common to all ICE include (1) the compression of air, (2) the raising of air temperature by the combustion of fuel in this air at its elevated pressure, (3) the extraction of work from the heated air by expansion to the initial pressure, and (4) exhaust.
To the extent effective, there are numerous disadvantages associated with the ICE. One of the disadvantages is the pollution that the ICE puts out. Another disadvantage is size of the ICE. Still another disadvantage of the ICE is waste of energy generated by thereby due to conventional four step process beginning from intake wherein combustible mixtures are emplaced in the combustion chamber followed by compression wherein the combustible mixtures are placed under pressure followed by combustion/expansion mode wherein the mixture is burnt and the hot mixture is expanded, pressing on and moving parts of the ICE, i.e. pistons cooperable with the crankshaft thereby moving the crankshaft, ending with exhaust mode wherein cooled combustion products are exhausted into the atmosphere.
One of the alternatives to the ICE is electric motors. Unfortunately, the electric engines are limited to predetermined distances due to non-availability of the infrastructure able to power the electric engines.
Numerous prior art patents disclose various designs of internal combustion engines and various components associated therewith. One of these prior art patents, namely U.S. Pat. No. 6,782,800 to Strain teaches a fluid powered linkage of the engine having side plates connected to form a polygon of variable cross sectional area. Several ports allow fluid to enter into or leave from the enclosed variable cross sectional area. A linkage device is used in an apparatus for producing a fluid output with altered pressure, volume or flow compared to a fluid input and a hydraulic motor. In many hydraulic or pneumatic systems, a master cylinder or pump is fluidly connected to a slave cylinder to transmit force or work to a remote location. When master and slave cylinders of unequal diameters are used, the force applied by the slave cylinder may be more or less than the force applied to the master cylinder. Similarly, the displacement of the slave cylinder may be more or less than the displacement of the master cylinder.
In these systems, however, there is always a linear relationship between the force or displacement of the slave cylinder and the force or displacement of the master cylinder. Similarly, when a pump is used to drive a slave cylinder, the force exerted by the slave cylinder is always linearly related to the pressure produced by the pump. To achieve any other relationship requires additional mechanical linkages at one end. Similarly, the design of hydraulic or pneumatic engines using cylindrical linkages is limited by such linear relationships.
There has, therefore, been a longstanding need to improve methods and systems of various applications that utilized in generation of circular movement thereby utilizing pistons reciprocally movable relative one another to generate this circular motion.
These and other problems have been solved by the improved system and method described below.